


The Best Valentine's Card

by astralpenguin



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Maze (Maze Runner), Background Ben/Gally, Don't Try This At Home, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Mild Infinity War spoilers, Newt Works in a Cinema, Valentine's Day, arts and crafts, nervous Thomas, you'll probably get in trouble for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 22:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18019532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralpenguin/pseuds/astralpenguin
Summary: The doors opened and a group of teenagers walked in.Specifically, it was Newt and Alby’s friends, who’d planned to go to the other cinema across town.Newt works at the cinema that most of the rest of his friends decide to go to on Valentine's DayFor some reason, Thomas keeps ditching the film to come out and talk to Newt





	The Best Valentine's Card

**Author's Note:**

> _shows up 3/4 of a month late with starbucks_ VALENTINE'S DAY
> 
> this is in no way my most polished work and i haven't really proofread it bc i'd been working on it for so long that i just wanted to get it done so if it seems kinda rushed that's why ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> i hope you enjoy reading it regardlesss !!!!

Sometimes Newt wished that he hadn’t listened when his mother told him to get a job.

Most of the time it was okay. He was pretty good at dealing with customers. For the most part, the kind of people who would choose to go to the small, independent cinema over the larger one on the other side of town weren’t the sort to cause any real difficulties anyway. And he loved the smell of popcorn, which just about made working the counter his dream job.

The constant standing was a drawback, but he could cope. He wasn’t going to let his leg ruin this for him. And nobody ever minded when he needed to grab a chair, anyway.

But sometimes he wished that he didn’t have this job.

It was Valentine’s Day.

Newt didn’t care all that much about Valentine’s Day, that wasn’t the issue.

The issue was that his friends, all of them, regardless of relationship status, had decided to do a group cinema trip.

And Newt couldn’t join them.

Because he had to work in a cinema.

He took a small amount of comfort in that he wasn’t alone. He shared this shift with Alby, who’d been one of his best friends for practically his whole life. They’d both spent the first couple of hours complaining to each other about the unfairness of it all.

“Why couldn’t they do the cinema trip tomorrow?” said Alby as he wiped down the cola dispenser for what was probably the tenth time. “Then we could join them!”

Newt sighed. “I think Ben and Gally are going away for the weekend. Someone would end up missing out whichever way we do it.”

“And Ben and Gally are more important to the group than us? Huh?”

Newt laughed. Alby’s tone of voice told him that he wasn’t actually upset.

“We all agreed that the actual couples should get to do something on Valentine’s. You were there.”

“Who says we can’t be a couple?” said Alby, turning around to face Newt.

Newt rolled his eyes. “I do.”

Alby grinned. “Yeah, who am I kidding? You’ve only got eyes for Tho-”

“Okay,” Newt said loudly, drowning out the rest of what Alby was saying. “That’s quite enough of that.”

Newt turned away, facing out towards the lobby and ignoring Alby’s laughter.

Alby was right, of course.

Newt had had a crush on Thomas for longer than he’d known how to actually recognise a crush. It wasn’t anywhere close to being a secret, Newt had failed spectacularly at being subtle over the years. The only person that Newt could be sure had failed to notice his crush on Thomas was the man himself.

He was mostly grateful for that.

Mostly.

He wasn’t in the mood to dwell on what-ifs right now. Doing that only ever served to drag his mood down, so it was a pointless exercise that he just wasn’t interested in.

Thomas had never made Newt aware of any similar feelings of his own, so Newt was forced to conclude that they didn’t exist. Newt was genuinely okay with that. Thomas was one of his best friends. Newt wasn’t going to let a crush ruin it, he loved being friends with Thomas.

The doors opened and a group of teenagers walked in.

“Hey!” Alby called out to them. “What happened to going to the other one?”

That group of teenagers were specifically Newt and Alby’s friends, who’d planned to go to the other cinema across town.

What were they doing here?

“Alby do you have any idea how much tickets cost over there?” said Minho, laughing. “We’re too broke for that place.”

“You didn’t bring enough for your ticket, did you?”

"No I did not,” said Minho, shooting finger guns at Alby with a grin on his face, indicating that he wasn’t embarrassed at all.

Brenda rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it’s Minho’s fault we had to come here, but to be fair the tickets here are a third of the price, so we should’ve just come here in the first place.”

“Well,” said Newt, “you still need to buy them, so could you get into a line or something?”

They did so with minimal complaining.

There was only a small amount of bickering over who was paying for who. Most of them ended up paying for themselves, with the exception of Gally. Ben paid for his ticket. Gally bought them popcorn to share in retaliation.

The last two people who needed to pay were Thomas and Teresa. Teresa had an arm linked with Thomas’, and was chatting animatedly about something that Newt couldn’t hear. Thomas looked nervous about something.

For a horrible moment, Newt thought that they might be treating the cinema outing as a date.

He knew that if they _were,_ Newt’s happiness for them and desire for them to be happy would quickly outweigh any sadness he’d feel at Thomas being in a relationship with someone else, but that sadness would still be there.

But this horrible moment, thankfully, only lasted a moment.

When they reached the front of the queue, Teresa detached herself from Thomas, handed over money for her own ticket, and said, “If someone likes someone, don’t you think they should tell them?”

“T,” Thomas whined, “this is bullying!”

Teresa ignored him, making it clear to Newt that she was expecting an answer from him.

This wasn’t a topic of conversation that Newt thought would be happening between those two if they were on a date.

“I’m probably the wrong person to ask,” he said as he gave her her ticket. “I’d only tell someone if I was sure they felt the same. If I didn’t have a good reason to believe that, or if I knew that they definitely didn’t, then I wouldn’t tell them because I wouldn’t want to make things awkward.” He shrugged. “I’m guessing that’s not the response you wanted?”

She thought for a moment, then said. “It’s good enough.”

She turned her head towards Thomas. Newt couldn’t see her face, but whatever expression she had there was enough to make Thomas gulp, and look even more nervous than he had before.

“Teresa,” said Newt.

“Yeah?”

“Entertaining as it is watching you make Tommy squirm, do you want any snacks? Or are you gonna let him buy his ticket?”

She stepped out of the way of the counter.

“I’m really sorry about all of this,” said Thomas as he gave Newt his money. “We need to organise something else really soon, it’s not fair that you’re missing out.”

“It’s cool,” said Newt. “You’re just gonna have to figure out a way to make it up to us.”

Thomas gave a small smile. “Yeah,” he said. “I guess I am.”

“Any snacks?”

Thomas blinked. He shook his head slightly, almost like he was bringing himself out of a daze. “No, I’m good.”

“Alright,” said Newt, handing Thomas his ticket. “Enjoy the film and don’t spoil it for me.”

Thomas laughed. “I don’t think it’s me you should be worrying about.”

Newt raised his voice and called across the group. “Oi, Minho, if you spoil this for me, you’ll regret it.”

Minho put a hand to his chest, dropped his mouth open, and widened his eyes in a way that was almost comical.

“I cannot _believe_ you’d accuse me of doing such a thing!”

“What did he do?” asked Teresa.

“Remember how he got to see Infinity War at the midnight release?” said Newt.

“Oh no. He didn’t...” she trailed off.

“Tommy and I woke up to his distressed messages about Heimdall specifically. It wasn’t until we yelled at him about spoilers that he remembered that he was the only one who’d seen it.”

“Wow,” said Teresa. “How is he still alive?”

“Good question,” said Newt.

Alby made a noise to get everyone’s attention. Once he had it, he said, “I’m gonna have to check in your bags before you go in.”

“Seriously?” Brenda crossed her arms. “You _know_ us, we’re not gonna be sneaking in a bomb or anything.”

“Groups of teenagers that buy less than one snack or drink between two have to have their bags checked. Company policy. And there’s cctv, so I could get in trouble if I don’t.”

“But the stuff you sell here is hardly marked up?” Thomas looked at the price list and then back towards Alby. “There’s no reason to sneak anything in!”

“Hasn’t stopped people from doing it. So if there’s anything in your bag that you don’t want me to see, ditch it now.”

With that, Alby walked out from behind the counter and stood at the ticket checker’s podium.

Newt was just about to let himself zone out when he spotted Alby’s expression as he looked in Minho’s bag.

Alby’s friendly smile morphed into an expression of confusion. He looked back up at Minho, opened his mouth as if about to say something, and-

“Is there food in there?” Minho got in first.

“.......No,” said Alby. “But-”

“Then to question the contents further would be an invasion of privacy, and I have not given you permission to-”

A loud sigh from Teresa caught Newt’s attention. In half a second she was over by the two boys and speaking quietly to them. Newt couldn’t hear what she was saying, but whatever it was seemed to reassure Alby. Minho looked a little put out - Newt guessed it was because his fancy-sounding spiel had been interrupted - but he perked up when Alby nodded in response to something.

With that done, Alby gave Brenda, Teresa, and Thomas’ bags a cursory glance inside, and he waved them inside.

“What was in the bag?” asked Newt when Alby rejoined him behind the counter.

“Sorry man,” said Alby. “Telling you would be an invasion of privacy.”

“You’re not serious.”

“I’m always serious.”

“You made a joke not even ten minutes ago.”

Alby waved dismissively. “Details, details. I’m not telling you what was in the bag.”

“Fine,” said Newt. “I’ll ask him myself when they come out.”

“That’s perfectly allowed.”

Newt rolled his eyes in fake exasperation. “Glad to have your support on this.”

Some time passed. Newt served a few other customers, none of them wanting to see the same film that his friends were going to be watching.

They’d have the place to themselves, the lucky bastards. Newt wished more than anything that he could go and join them.

“D’ya reckon I could get away with it?” He asked Alby just after the adverts were due to have started.

“Remember how Janson reacted when he randomly watched over the cctv footage and saw that Aris had been serving himself popcorn?” Without waiting for a response, he said, “No, Newt. I do not think you could get away with it.”

“Why logic?”

Alby grinned. “When the two of us work together then even if, like right now, one of us as a lapse, there’ll always be at least one logical person around, which let’s be honest this group needs.”

“But right now they’re in there without either of us! They could be flinging paint on the walls for all we know!”

Alby tried to turn a laugh into a cough, but Newt still caught it.

“They’re not _actually_ flinging paint at the walls, are they?”

“No, they’re not five.”

“That doesn’t reassure me.”

“Teresa’s in there too, and she’s usually able to keep them in line. Is that better?”

“Marginally.”

Alby laughed for real this time.

Before either of them could say anything else, Newt spotted Thomas walking back towards the counter.

“Hey,” said Newt once Thomas had reached him. “Isn’t the film starting soon?”

“Yeah, it is,” he said, with an unworried smile.

“So what are you doing out here?”

Thomas blinked. “Oh! Minho decided he wants popcorn after all.”

“And he couldn’t get it himself?”

Thomas shrugged, putting some coins on the counter. “I volunteered.”

Newt shook his head. “He’ll want salty, yeah?”

“He didn’t say. You probably know better than me.”

“Get him salty with a thin layer of sweet on top,” chimed in Alby. “He never wants to ask for it because it’s so specific but that’s what he likes.”

Newt prepared the popcorn and handed it over.

“Thanks,” said Thomas.

He seemed almost hesitant to leave.

Newt looked up at the showings board. All of the films were due to have started by now.

“We should have a couple hours peace,” said Newt. He swept some stray pieces of popcorn that had fallen onto the counter into his hand and tipped them into the bin by his feet. “Is there anything Janson wanted us to get done?”

“I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Thomas for the evening.”

“Mate, the film has started.” Newt stepped away from the counter and sat in the chair that was pushed off to the side. “They’re not gonna want to miss stuff.”

“Just you wait,” said Alby. “I bet you anything that Thomas will be back out here within an hour.”

“Thomas specifically?”

Alby hummed a confirmation.

Newt thought on it for a moment, then said. “A fiver.”

“Done,” said Alby, and they shook on it.

Forty minutes passed.

Newt heard the sound of the doors to one of the screens opening and closing, the sound of the film being briefly audible before the door could cut it back off.

He glanced up lazily.

And sprung to his feet.

Newt ignored Alby’s laughter, and instead focused on Thomas, who was making his way towards them.

When Thomas reached the counter, he placed a pile of coins down. “I’ve been instructed to get cola for everyone. This is what the others gave me.” He started digging through his pocket, presumably for his wallet so he could add money for his own drink to the pile.

Newt started counting up the coins. “Are you the designated fetcher then?”

Thomas let out a soft laugh. “I volunteered again. Don’t worry about it, I don’t mind.” He added a couple more coins.

Newt finished counting. “Exact change, I’m impressed.”

“I know right! I swear this never happens.”

They chatted for a few minutes more while Newt prepared the drinks and put them in cardboard cup holders.

“I can manage!”

“Tommy,” said Newt, trying to suppress a smile, “there are six cups here, you only have two hands, and we both know what you’re like. You need the cup holders.”

Thomas grumbled a little, but took them anyway.

Once Thomas was out of sight, Newt didn’t even look at Alby as he held out the money that he’d won. Alby took it with only a little bit of gloating.

Fifty minutes later, Thomas reappeared _again._ This time he was headed to the toilet, but on his way back he stopped at the counter to chat. Newt asked how he was enjoying the film, and Thomas said it was pretty good. He then asked Newt if he’d gotten anywhere with the English homework yet, which Newt hadn’t and said as much. Thomas then relayed the story of Winston’s latest attempt at getting out of doing any work in class.

(He’d shown up with his hands totally bandaged up and said that he’d trapped them in a door. Ms Paige had responded by immediately calling Winston’s mother to confirm whether his injuries were really that serious. They weren’t)

“I really am sorry you’re stuck out here,” said Thomas once he’d finished his story. “It’s not fair, we should’ve picked another day.”

“We’ve been over this already,” Newt said, laughing softly. “There weren’t any other good days near enough to today for it to still be a Valentine’s outing. It’s fine.”

Alby cleared his throat, reminding them both that he was still there.

“Aren’t _you_ missing out on the film by standing out here?”

Thomas’ eyes widened in realisation. “Oh yeah!” He stepped away from the counter. “Sorry Newt.”

Newt rolled his eyes in fond exasperation. “Stop apologising.”

Thomas grinned. “Sorry!” he said again, and he turned and practically ran back down the hall.

Thomas didn’t resurface after that.

On the one hand, Newt was glad, because it meant that Thomas was (hopefully) actually watching and enjoying the film uninterrupted. But Newt wasn’t in the habit of lying to himself, and he enjoyed talking to Thomas no matter what the circumstances, so there was some slight disappointment mixed in there.

Eventually, the film ended, and Newt’s friends came out into the lobby. They were chatting, presumably about what they’d just watched, but their voices were quiet enough that Newt couldn’t make out any specific words.

It appeared that they’d all taken Newt’s request not to spoil it for him and Alby to heart. He was grateful for that.

When they made an appearance, Alby grabbed a broom and made his way towards the screen they’d all just been in. He was on cleaning duty today.

A quick scan of the group told Newt that there was a member missing.

“Where’d Tommy go?” he asked Brenda, who was standing nearest to him.

“Toilet maybe?”

“He already went not that long ago, and I’d have seen him coming out.

She shrugged. “He’s around somewhere. He won’t have gotten far.”

“You say that like he’s a puppy who’s given us the slip.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You say that like he isn’t.”

Newt laughed. “Fair,” he said.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see that Alby had returned at some point.

“It’s a two person job,” he said.

Newt shook his head. “There were only six people, and they would’ve made an effort to be tidy seeing as it’s their friend who’d have to clean up after. No way is it a two person job.”

“Just come see,” said Alby, and he started heading back towards the screen.

Wondering what disaster his friends could possibly have caused, he followed.

When he first walked into the room, Newt didn’t notice anything amiss. There wasn’t any popcorn on the floor, there were no drinks cups left anywhere, and it looked like nobody had managed to leave their bags behind.

Then he saw it.

He wasn’t quite sure how he’d been able to miss it in the first place.

He walked a bit further in so that he could get a better look.

Almost the entirety of the space between the front row and the screen had been taken up by a giant sheet of paper. On the paper, in pink and red paint, the bottles of which hadn’t been put away and could still be seen to the sides, was a message. That message was ‘Be My Valentine’. The spare space on the paper had been filled with hearts, all except for the bottom left corner. That area instead had a green and brown newt, signalling to Newt beyond a doubt that this message was meant for him.

It was like someone had made him a giant Valentine’s Day card.

“What the-” he said, turning around in search of an explanation.

And his eyes fell on Thomas.

He’d hidden among the back rows, so he’d been out of Newt’s sight as he walked into the room.

He wasn’t hiding now.

He was making his way towards the front.

Neither of them spoke as Thomas walked down, and they stayed quiet as Thomas stopped a few paces away.

A few seconds passed, though to Newt they felt endless, and still neither of them said anything.

Finally, Newt couldn’t bear it any longer.

“Did you do this?”

Thomas stared down at it and gave a small shrug. “Kinda?” he said. “The others helped.”

“If this is what you guys were up to in here, why did you keep coming outside?”

Thomas still didn’t look up as he said, “I was nervous. Kept getting in the way.”

“Tommy,” Newt said gently. “Look at me?”

He did. Newt couldn’t decipher the expression on Thomas’ face, but he could take an educated guess at how Thomas was probably feeling.

He must be terrified. A gesture like this must take a lot of guts, and Newt knew that it wasn’t something that he’d ever feel capable of doing.

It was only then that the fact that Thomas had (with help) painted a giant Valentine’s Day thing for _him_ really fully computed in Newt’s brain.

“Bit much?” asked Thomas.

Newt shook his head. “No,” he said. “No it’s-” He cut himself off, took a deep breath, and said, “Do you mean it?”

He didn’t have any trouble reading Thomas’ face this time. His expression morphed into one of confusion. “Mean it?”

It wasn’t that Newt thought that Thomas was likely to do something like this as a prank, even as he was asking it he knew what the answer was going to be. But there was a part of him that couldn’t quite believe that this was happening. So he had to be sure.

“This,” Newt said, gesturing to the sheet. “Do you mean it? Do you actually-”

“Yes,” said Thomas. All trace of confusion and uncertainty left him. He fixed Newt with a firm stare, and said, “I completely mean it. I really like you. I’m not expecting anything from you, but I wanted to tell you.” An embarrassed smile appeared on his face. “Some of the others came up with the idea to paint something like this for you, and to do it today, but the message is true.”

“Which of the others was it?”

“Minho, Teresa, and Brenda,” Thomas replied, without missing a beat. “Blame them.”

“Well, I think at least some of the blame lies with the person who has a crush on me in the first place.”

Thomas let out a small laugh, but Newt knew that it wasn’t entirely genuine.

Thomas had been completely open and honest with him. Newt needed to return the favour.

He took a few steps closer. “Thank you for telling me.” He took Thomas’ hand with his own. “And I love the giant card, I really do, but it wasn’t necessary. You could’ve just told me.”

“You know what those guys are like once they’ve got an idea.”

“Well they’re little shits who also knew that all this wasn’t necessary, because they all knew that I feel exactly the same about you.”

Thomas’ eyes widened at Newt’s revelation.

Newt smiled. “You didn’t know? Everyone else does.”

“I’m gonna kill Minho.”

“Why?”

“Because he _knew_ how badly I was crushing on you and not once did he take any pity on me! He didn’t hint that telling you would be a good idea until I told him that I wanted to!” Thomas had a smile on his face, so Newt could tell that he wasn’t being serious. “The only one who gave me even the slightest inkling was Teresa, and all she did was wonder out loud if I’d even _considered_ that you might like me back, which was hardly anything at all!”

He laughed. “Please don’t kill any of our friends, they did the right thing.”

“I bet they have a group chat without us in that exists for the sole purpose of laughing at us.”

Newt grabbed Thomas’s other hand, so they were holding both hands. “Tommy,” he said, a couple of bubbles of laughter escaping as he did so. “I absolutely will be your Valentine.”

Thomas pulled Newt closer. “I’m glad,” he said, and he kissed him for the first time.

**Author's Note:**

> newt and thomas then went and spent the rest of valentine's day together. everyone else helped alby clear the room up. the giant card/sheet/thing was carefully removed and, once completely dry, was given to newt to keep. which he did : D
> 
>  
> 
> comments and kudos make me extremely happy
> 
> come say [hi!!!](https://astralpenguin.tumblr.com/)


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